Xiao Jiguo, an obscure Chinese actor, has risen to fame after the press coverage revealed his resemblance to the incumbent U.S. president Barack Obama.

The discovery was made by the media a few days ahead of Chinese president Xi Jinping's visit to the United States last month and it produced overnight fame across the country.

The once obscure Chinese actor has been invited to numerous events and film scenes since his appearance went viral.

On Sept. 28, 2015, he was invited to a ceremony of a company's Initial Public Offering (IPO) in Beijing. Having posed onstage with the president of the company, he was paid thousands of yuan as a reward for his publicity-promoting attendance.

Taking a taxi to hotel, Xiao packed and headed to airport that night to fly to Guangzhou, where he joined in shooting a comic film, in which he took the role of a robber.

Wearing a shirt and a tie, Xiao was wrapped in the costume for about two hours on a sultry day in Guangzhou.

"He shouldn't change his clothes, because he looks peculiarly like Obama in this suit," one of Xiao's partners said.

Facing suspicions that he had achieved the special effect by plastic surgery, Xiao said: "My appearance is completely original. I daren't undergo plastic surgery on my face, because the organs may eventually collapse when people get older."

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